Falun World Ski Championships to be investigated

Published måndag 19 januari 2015 kl 16.20

The ski-jumping hills and arenas have been rebuilt at a cost of SEK 237 million. Photo: Lars Ekelöf/Sveriges Radio.

The Swedish Competition Authority is to look into claims that the organisers of the 2015 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Falun have broken competition rules by not giving companies the chance to bid for contracts during the preparations for the games next month.

Swedish Radio News in Dalarna reports that the local council in Falun was originally joint-owner of the company organising the championships, but soon after the formation of the company reduced their share in the it, which meant it no longer had to follow the Swedish Public Procurement Act, which forces publicly-financed authorities to always ask for bids from interesting companies in order to get the cheapest offer.

The council still paid for much of the renovation work for the arenas, but by doing it through the organising company did not have to put the work up for bids.

The General Director of the Swedish Competition Authority, Dan Sjöblom tells P4 Dalarna: "We have opened a case and decided to look deeper into this and ask what actually happened, what contracts exist between the different parts, and what services have been bought. Then we will see if it has been done according to the rules."